Re: New Years Eve

Woollyzone wrote:

I'm looking to do something a bit different this New Year's Eve, a
wild camp somewhere (obnoxious weather excepted) - does anyone have
any recommendations for a good unusual place to see in the new year?
I've heard Skiddaw is quite a good night out!

Obviously I'm going to look at this from a photographic point of view, i.e.
to photograph the sunrise on Jan 1st, in which case the ideal spot would be
somewhere with a clear view to the south-east. Water usually enhances such a
photograph, so I'd suggest camping next to a lake, with the lake between you
and the sunrise.

An excellent spot to photograph sunrises is at Llyn y Fan Fawr, camping at
the north-west corner of the lake (where there's a stream for water and a
small pool to use as a foreground). At certain times of year, the sun rises
directly behind Pen y Fan, but not on Jan 1st.

Anyway, the same principle would apply to any wild camp on the west side of
a lake facing east, although it needs to be north-west/south-east at this
time of year.

Checking the time and angle, it seems that from Swansea the sun will rise at
8:22am at an angle of 128 degrees.
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=1336&month=1&year=2008&obj=sun&afl=-12&day=1

Obviously this will be different for different locations, so in Blackpool
for example, the sun will rise at 8:30am at an angle of 130 degrees. Simply
change the location to wherever is nearest to where you plan to go.

Knowing the angle of sunrise, it would be a good idea to check the angle on
the map and choose a location with a good foreground in that direction. For
example if you camped on the summit of Moel Cynghorion, the summit of
Snowdon would be in roughly that direction.

Of course, finding somewhere with a lake and a good foreground might be
tricky. The western end of Llyn Ogwen would be a good spot to photograph the
sun rising behind Tryfan, but that's probably not the best spot to camp.

Remember also that in the hills you may not see the sun rise until 5 or 10
minutes after the sunrise time (or much later if you have high hills in
front of you), so you should add a few degrees to the sun's position when it
finally rises.

Good luck with finding a good location!

Of course, if you plan on drinking and staying up late, you may sleep
through the sunrise...

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk


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